Stay-hinge.



P. J. STEIGER.

STAY HINGE.

A APPLICATION FILED JAN.21, 1911.

Patented Oct. 29, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

INVENTOR? FEIEIJ. 5t

fiZWITNESSES'? I ATTORNEYS PETER, J. STEIGER, OF NEWARK, NEVT JERSEY.

STAY-HINGE.

eas es.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 29,1912.

Application filed January 21, 1911. Serial No. 603,882.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, PETER J. S'rnlcnn,

citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stay-Hinges; and it do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates, generally, to improvements in hinges; and the invention has reference, more particularly, to that class of hinges known in the art as stay-hinges, and which are more especially adapted for use with trunks and dress-boxes.

The present invention has for its principal object to provide a novel andsimple construction of hinge with suitable means connected with the hinged leaves or sections of the hinge and acting automatically and cooperating with the said hinge-sections to limit or arrest their pivotal movement when the lid or cover of the trunk or box is opened, and thereby to safely retain the said lid or cover in its opened position without any danger of the usually heavy lid or cover breaking the hinge-connection, or otherwise destroying the usefulness of the hinge.

()ther objects of this invention not at this time more particularly enumerated will be clearly obvious from the following detailed description of the same.

With the various objects of the present invention in view, the said invention consists primarily, in the novel lock or stay-hinge hereinafter set forth; and, the invention consists, furthermore, in the novel arrangements and combinations of the various parts, as well as in the details of the construction of the same, all of which will be more fully described in the following specification, and then finally embodied in the clauses of the claim which is appended to and which form an essential part of this specification.

The invention. is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a face view of a hinge show.- ing one embodiment of the principles of the present invention, the same being repre sented in its affixed position to a body and a lid of a trunk, dress-case, or the like, said body and lid being represented in part only; Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional representation'of the various partsillustrated in said Fig. 1,? said section being taken centrally through the hinge; and Fig. 3 is a sectional representation of the trunk or case-body and lid, with the lock. or stay-hinge in side ele- Vation, and the parts thereof being represented in their open and stayed relation. Fig. 4 is a view similar to that represented inFig. 1 of portions of the trunk or casebody and lid, with a face view of a lock or stay-hinge therefor, said hinge, however, being slightly modified in construction; and Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical sectional representation of the parts illustrated in said Fig. 4, said section being taken centrally through the hinge.

Similar characters of reference are employed in all of the above described views, to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring now to the several figures of the drawings, the reference-character 1 indicates the body of a trunk or dress-case and 2 the lid or cover of the same which is preferably provided with the usual valance 3. The hinge proper, in this instance as here shown, is of the usual hinge construction such as is employed with trunks; and, the same consists of the usual hinge-leaves or sections 4 and 5 suitably pivotally connected by means of the knuckles 6 and 7 and a pin or pintle 8, the said. hinge-leaves or sections 4: and 5 being secured to the body 1 and the lid 2 by means of the usual rivets 9, or similar fastening devices. Suitably secured upon the face of the hinge-leaf or section 4, by means of some of the said rivets 9, is a plate 10, said plate being provided with a suitably struck-out eye, as 11, forming a bearingportion, in which are pivotally arranged the end-portions 13 and 141 of a frame-like stay 12 which ispreferably made from springwire of. suitable gage and strength, and is preferably of the configuration shown in the several figures of the drawings. This stay 12, as shown, is made with the upper and outwardly extending members 15 and 16 connected with the respective end-portions 13 and 14., and connected with the respective members 15 and 16 are the lower and inwardly extending members 17 and 18, saidmembers 17 and 18 being connected by means of a cross-bar 19. The construction of the frame-like stay 12 is such that its endportions 13 and 141 can be sufficiently separated so as to be readily sprung into its hinged or pivotal connection with the bearing-portion 11, as will be clearly evident. It will also be understood, that while the configuration of the frame-like stay 12 shown in the drawings is the preferred form, the general shape and configuration of the said frame-like stay may be changed, if desired' Suitably secured upon the face of the hinge-leaf or section 5, by means of some of the said rivets 9, is a plate 20, said plate being formed with an offset part, as 21, which provides a suitable guide in the space 22 in which the barlike portion 19 of the frame-like stay 12 is slidably arranged, as shown.

The operations of the several parts hereinabove' described will be clearly understood from an inspection of Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the downward sliding movement of the frame-like stay 12 being limited by the cross-bar 19 of the stay being brought into engagement with the part 23 of the plate 20 which acts as a stop, so as to bring the parts into the fixed positions shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, and thereby positively and rigidly retaining the lid or cover 2 in its open position with relation to the body or box 1, and at the same time removing all undue strain from the hinge-connection of the hinge, and preventing the lid or cover from dropping suddenly and too far down, thus preventing the breaking of the hinge, or otherwise rendering the same inoperative.

Instead of providing the hinge-section 4t with a plate 10 independently secured to said hinge-section by means of the rivets 9, or otherwise, the said hinge-section may have struck up or forced out of its bodyportion a tongue 24, as shown in Figs. 4: and 5 of the drawings, said tongue being provided with a suitably bent part, as 25, forming a bearing-portion for the samepurpose as the bearing-portion 11 used in connection with the plate 10.

In like manner, the lower hinge-section 5 is formed with an upwardly extending tongue 26 which is forced out of or struck from the body-portion of said hingesection, the said tongue 26 being formed with the bent parts 27 and 28, which provide with the body of said tongue a suitable guide for the slidable arrangement therein of the bar-like portion 19 of the frame-like stay 12, the lower bent part 27 acting as a stop in the manner of and for the same purposes as the bent part 23 of the plate 20 hereinbefore described in connection with the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings.

The manner of connecting the frame-like stay 12 with the tongues 2a and 26 of the respective hinge-leaves or sections of the hinge represented in said Figs. 1 and 5 is the same as that described with the construc tion represented in said Figs. 1, 2 and 3. The operations of the parts are also the same, and being self-evident from an inspection of said Figs. at and 5, need not be further described.

I am fully aware that some changes may be made in the general arrangements and combinations of the various parts, as well as in the details of the construction of the same, without departing from the scope of this invention as set forth in the foregoing specification, and as defined in the claims which are appended thereto. Hence, I do not limit my invention to the exact arrange ments and combinations of the parts as de scribed in said specification, nor do I confine myself to the exact details of the const-ruction of the said parts as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

A stay-hinge for trunks, boxes and the like, comprising a pair of hinged sections, a tongue struck up out of one of said hingesections, a bearing-portion connected with said tongue, a frame-like stay pivotally mounted at one end in said bearing-portion, a tongue struck up out of the other hingesection, said last-mentioned tongue having bent parts so as to form a guide, said framelike stay having a bar-like member slidably disposed in said guide, and one of said bent portions of said last-mentioned tongue forming a stop with which said bar-like member is adapted to be brought in engagement for limiting the sliding movement of said frame-like stay and retaining said. hinge-sections in their open relation.

In testimony that I claim the invention set forth above I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day of January, 1911.

PETER J. STEIGER.

Witnesses GEORGE D. RICHARDS, FREDK. H. W. FRAENTZEL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

